Tag: house

Moving house is a massive task. As we were moving, lots of people kept telling us that it was up there with divorce as one of the biggest/most stressful things you can do in your life. It takes over your life, and however much you tell yourself it’ll be fine and there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, when you’re actually living it, it can be a struggle. During our move, I made a few notes about things I was doing to help cope with stress/keep organised, and I’m going to share them with you now. I hope they might help someone out there!

MAKE PRIORITY LISTS

Undoubtedly, you’re going to be buying new things for your new place (woo!). If this is your first house, you’ll be buying loads of furniture. If it’s a new build you’ll be buying curtain rails and carpets too. Or if you’re a seasoned pro and have been in your old house for a number of years, you’re moving into a new space, so there’s bound to be SOMETHING you need. Make a list, browse online, go to the furniture outlet near you, and make decisions about what you’re going to do. Don’t leave it till the last minute coz you’ll just be creating more stress for yourself!

TAKE CONTROL OF WHAT YOU CAN

When so many aspects of buying/moving house are out of your control, it can be easy to feel totally powerless. And I suppose you are; your life, your future, is in somebody else’s hands – someone who isn’t emotionally invested and working 24/7 to make this venture happen. So if you’re panicking, or freaking out, take control over what you can, like organising your packing, or going shopping for new furnishings/furniture. You’ll feel better for it (rather than just sitting home, waiting for an email or phone call), and it means when the trigger’s pulled, you’re ON IT!

ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES

Whilst you can take control of what you can, sometimes you just have to accept the rubbish that comes with moving. It’s NEVER going to be a straight forward process, so it gets to a point where you just have to go with it, accept that only in a perfect world would it be a quick, easy, painless process. I found that once I accepted this and just went with it, I stressed a little less.

USE WORK AS A DISTRACTION

Whether you’re still in the purchasing process, or whether you’re into the move itself – allow yourself to take time away from it, and work is the perfect time to do this. When you’re home, your life is completely disrupted (you’re constantly reminded when the place is littered with boxes, half your stuff is missing and your telly’s sitting on the floor!). So when you’re at work, try not to let the move bother you. During the move, when I was in work I COMPLETELY immersed myself, and it really helped.

ENLIST THE HELP OF OTHERS

Family, friends neighbours – if they offer, accept their help with big thanks! There’s soooo much to do, and splitting the work load makes the task much smaller.

LABEL EVERY BAG AND BOX

So I was really good at this, I went labelling CRAZY – until we were packing up the last minute stuff. Those every day things that sit lonely in cupboards or out on the side ever since you packed up the other 98% of your belongings. All the last minute stuff happens in such a rush (coz there’s a lot more than you realise and you have to get out), and all our stuff got thrown into various bags and boxes. Which meant that when we got to the house, I could tell you exactly where the wooden spoons and the tealight holders were, but not the shampoo or pyjamas were. Not ideal.

KNOW THAT IT WILL GET BETTER

However stressed you are, however overwhelming it all is – it WILL get better, there IS an end to all of this – and when you get there, it’ll be the BEST feeling! You’ll be in your new place, you’ll absolutely love it, and the stress will slowly melt away.

RESCUE REMEMDY

And if all else fails – a couple of drops of Rescue Remedy will calm you down! It was my driving teacher that introduced it to me, and it’s a handy little bottle to have around when it all gets a bit too much.

If you’re in the middle of moving, about to move, or just nosey (coz moving is always bound to happen!) – I hope that one or two tips help you out.

Much love,

Lynette x

Okay, so one of THE MOST fun things about moving house, is BUYING NEW PRETTY THINGS! Obviously 😉 We moved from an old flat with tons of character (and BEAMS, I love beams), into a house that’s less than a year old, which is really bright and light and totally empty. Which meant – RE-STYLE!!! We both wanted a nice clean and light home to settle down in, so we decided to keep the interior mainly white, cream and grey. That way, we have a nice blank canvas to work from when it comes to furnishings and decor.

I LOVE our new home, and after months of waiting to move in (and therefore months of browsing for ideas online), when we were finally in a position to furnish – I was LOVING life! And still am 😊 So here we go:

Stacking Tables – Wayfair

I know these made it to my last post, but I LOVE them, so had to include them again! We hadn’t seen anything similar anywhere else, especially not in ROSE GOLD! 😍

Trinket Dish – Next

I saw this a good month before we moved out of the flat, but when it was Rose Gold AND marble… I couldn’t resist, and bought it straight away! (Then it sat in a box for 6 weeks)!

Floor Light – IKEA

We knew we wanted a fancy floor light for the living room, and didn’t go to IKEA with the intention of buying – but we saw this and HAD to buy it (when DOESN’T that happen at IKEA, let’s face it 😂). I wish I could capture it better, but you get the idea!

Aloe Vera – IKEA

Now this we DID go with the intention of buying. We wanted some greenery to freshen the place up and knew we could get some in the Market Place when we were already there buying furniture. This sits in the bathroom and I honestly don’t know why I didn’t invest in house plants sooner!

Mason Jars – Etsy

These were in my favourites for monthssss before purchasing, so I was so excited when I finally got my desk/dressing table sorted and I could buy these! Can you tell I love MARBLE AND ROSE GOLD yet? 🙊

Leaner Mirror – Wayfair

(Image from website).
I’d seen a lot of these large leaner mirrors on Insta and really liked them,
so got searching, and happened across this one…I waited until it was reduced,
and got it ordered!

Shoe Rack – Amazon

This is a BRILLIANT idea, I found it a year or so ago to put at the back of our wardrobe/cupboard in the flat (it was almost a second bedroom)! And when we moved, I ordered another! It comes totally deconstructed, which means you can build it and click it together in any design you want. In the flat, it was a cuboid block of 12, now as you can see, it fits perfectly in our under stairs cupboard.

Bluebells Canvas – Etsy

We decided we wanted a nice natural canvas, so knowing how much of a good experience I’ve had with Etsy, we headed to their website. There’s lots of gorgeous canvases on there, but this is the one we went with.

Desk/Dressing Table – Various

The desk and drawers are from IKEA, mirror from Dunelm, Chair from Wayfair, canvas from Matalan, cushion from Amazon, and you’ve already seen the mason jars and trinket dish 😊 I love this little set up! Ed’s desk is much more manly, so I had to make my side of the room pretty 😊

If you’ve got any fave home furnishings, what are they? Or is there anything you think I need to invest in? Let me know in the comments!

Lynette x

Now obviously, this is completely subjective, and this is done purely from the experiences we’ve had doing up the house. It’s not gospel, and I’m sure there are other great stores out there that we didn’t use, but these are our faves, and I’ll explain why 😊

I MEAN, WHO DOESN’T LOVE IKEA, of COURSE it’s at the top of the list! One of the most exciting things about moving is the prospect of going to The Narnia of household furnishings! You know as soon as you step through those doors, however well thought out your shopping list was, you’ll be leaving with more than you planned for 🙃 Virtually all of our furniture is new, and virtually all of it came from Ikea. I didn’t realise until I just thought about it then…it was a busy and confusing time, but I suppose we did end up going twice in 2 weeks AND get an order delivered to our home address too… It’s safe to say that we are now absolute masters in IKEA DIY (you know that when you don’t even really need to look at the instructions because you can pretty much guess which screws go where). I loved building our furniture because it was fun, the experience of Ikea is ALWAYS enjoyable, and #adulting!

I’ve loved Dunelm ever since I first moved down to London. Mama P took me to the big store at Clifton Moor in York before I moved, and I fell in love – it’s a fab store for home furnishings and small bits of furniture. Ed and I ended up getting curtains, light shades, bed linen, bits of cookware and more! The prices aren’t too bad either – there’s definitely a few bed sets that are way more than one should be spending on linen, but equally they’ve got some items clearly aimed at students – so it’s perfect for everyone!

Advertising won, I wouldn’t have known about Wayfair were it not for Lorraine Kelly squating away in the ITV advert breaks. And, the advert’s right – whatever homeware you’re looking for, there’s something for you and your budget – and a lot of it too, they’ve got a great range of products! I’m in love with our stacking tables from Wayfair – I hadn’t seen any Rose Gold tables anywhere else, and I love the style! We also got a bean bag and clock from here, and they won’t be the last purchases, I can tell you that for sure! My one word of warning though, things seem to go fast, so if you have a floor light saved in your favourites, it may not be in stock a week later. I see it as a sign (yes, this happened to me), but it’s good to be aware!

I never thought about going to Next for homeware until a google search for marble look placemats took me there…but they’ve got some lovely things! Kitchenware, bedroom things, decor…and not too extortionately priced either! (To date), we’ve got the placemats, tealight holders, candles and a trinket dish from there, all of which are perfect for our home.

Similar to Dunelm I suppose, a little cheaper though (and they do craft things there too, for any keen crafters out there)! We mainly used it for kitting out the bathrooms, though I’ve shopped there before for wall art and wedding decorations too (YES, that’s right, but I’ll be sharing these details AFTER the wedding) 😊

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned on more than occasion how much I love Etsy, so I’m sorry to sound like a broken record, but I really do! I came across it a couple of years ago when looking for gifts, and I’ve been a regular visitor to the website ever since – for gifts, and now for home decor too. We got our personalised house sign from there, as well as a canvas painting for the bedroom and marble mason jars for my desk. I love being able to support small businesses, and there’s some gorgeous, quality stuff on there. Go and check it out if you haven’t already, especially with Christmas on the way!

We’re still not done kitting out the house yet, so if you have any other stores that you think we need to visit, let me know in the comments below!

And NEXT TIME, I’ll be sharing some of my favourite new items in our little home, so if you’re curious about seeing what we actually got from these shops, stay tuned!

When we decided back in March that we were going to move, I had no IDEA what the reality of it would actually be. Of course I’ve moved before, but it’s never been as big as this one…whilst moving to uni or to central London have been significant points in my life, they were never MASSIVE. Sure it’s stressful, having to pack everything up and move your entire life elsewhere – but it’s not until we started the process of buying a house that I realised all my previous stresses were NOTHING compared to the adulting version.

I wasn’t totally naive, I knew there’d be a lot of things involved (things you don’t think about until you’re doing it) but the whole process was made unnecessarily stressful by factors we couldn’t control. I’m not going to go into the nitty gritty of the actual sale of the flat/purchase of the house, because frankly, I don’t want to. What I AM going to share with you are the day to day experiences.

1 – Stress

The constant STRESS will be nothing you’ve ever experienced before. Plenty of people said to me over the last few months that along with divorce, it’s one if the biggest things you can do in your life. I’ve felt stressed plenty of times in the past, as we all have, but stressing about something at work now seems like a walk in the park by comparison! There’s so many things hanging over your head for so long, you can’t do ANYTHING about them, it’s all in someone else’s hands…and that was maybe the worst bit.

2 – The disruption to your life

We carried on working as we moved, but I’d be lying if I said I was still able to give work my full attention during the process. I was often distracted, but in particular, it affected the amount I could work from home. As a dance teacher, I do all of my prepping, music finding/editing at home, and when we were moving I just didn’t have the time. I take my hat off to anyone with a 9-5 job (or similar) who keep working and move at the same time, because I really struggled.

3 – Packing is SO time consuming

If you can, start early. Yes it’s a pain to live out of boxes, but TRUST ME, the sooner you start the better.

4 – You’ll have a constant dull headache

Most likely brought on by the stress, and thankfully I didn’t have one for the entire 6 months…but for the actual move itself, it was always there. Keep the paracetamol handy.

5 – How mentally and physically draining it is

…I think because for so long, your life is out of your control. You rely solely on other people to make this dream happen for you, and you may feel like they don’t give a s**t. Which can be such a gutting feeling to have to walk around with, particularly for months on end.

6 – You have so much CRAP

I’ve said it before, but you don’t realise how much crap you accumulate until you have to box it all up and pack it away! We used the move as an opportunity to have a bit of detox and a sort (a lot went to charity or in the bin in the end), but you’ll still have a million things to pack. And a month after moving in, you’ll still have unpacked boxes littering your home. It’s not ideal, but it’s best just to accept it!

Probably because it’s taken so long to get to this point. You’ve had so many phone calls, so many cases of getting your hopes up that things are starting to happen, but then being let down. So when it ACTUALLY happens it feels very surreal. I didn’t even believe it when we got the keys!

8 – How much cardboard you’ll accumulate

Obviously, there’ll be tons from the boxes you used to move stuff over, but even MORE so if your furniture is new. Our house is a new build, was totally bare, and we wanted to use it as an opportunity for a fresh start – with the wedding in 6 months, it was the prefect time to start a new chapter. Which is amazing, but the amount of things you have to buy will be a lot more than you thought! And that translated into cardboard means a LOT of runs to the tip.

But please don’t think it’s all negative! Not at all! There’s so many positives (and I’ll be talking about these in a separate post), but you can GUESS the good ones ahead of time. The ones I’ve listed are things I hadn’t even considered until we experienced it ourselves!

I’m going to leave you with a positive though:

9 – How incredible it feels when things start coming together

You may not be totally happy with how things are, your TV still isn’t mounted on the wall, you’ve got some doors off hinges after having the carpet done and your second bedroom resembles a dumping ground…

But it’s starting to take shape, it’s starting to feel like home, and after the crazy, busy, stressful experience, it’s in AMAZING feeling!

AND whilst I have the opportunity, I want to give a huge shout out to our friends and family for all the support you’ve offered. Whether that was an ear to moan to (I’m looking predominantly at my ladies dance/fitness class on a Monday – Moaning Monday I nicknamed it, I’m so sorry 😂), a supportive or encouraging word, the offer of help or a ‘Happy New Home’ card…it means a lot. In particular, I need to show lots of love to both sets of parents who’ve been absolutely amazing (as ever, but especially) during this process 💖

Stay tuned for more house posts – I’ll be discussing our fave stores for kitting out our new home next time!

Lynette x

RIGHT, well hello again…I can’t believe how long it’s been! I’d really started getting into blogging over the summer, and then suddenly; nothing. But I promise you I have a very valid reason – WE MOVED INTO OUR FIRST HOUSE!

If you know me or follow me on social media, I’m sure it won’t have escaped your notice, as I haven’t really shut up about it! It’s been a long, tiring, stressful process – how naive was I to think it’d be easy and smooth, and that we’d be settled and back to normal by the end of September?! ❌ I’m not going to go into details of the problems we’ve encountered throughout this process because frankly, I see no point in moaning now we’re finally getting settled, and also, you’d still be reading this post 6 months from now 🙃 I want to focus on the POSITIVES, because as I say, we’re in, we’re settled and we love the house!

My last blog post 25 Discoveries in my 25th Year was published when we were in our little limbo home – we moved out of the flat on 17th September but couldn’t move into the house until 26th September (it’s a new build so it was totally bare – we were waiting on the carpet installation), so spent a week in a holiday home by the river. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but it was pretty and we made it work – and it meant I spent the evening of my 26th birthday on the roof terrace with my Bish, sipping Prosecco ❤️

Moving into a new build is great, because you can TOTALLY make it your own. But when you’re starting with a blank canvas, it takes time to get it done, especially when you’re still working at the same time. We’ve got all the furniture done now (apart from some shelves that need fitting and the TV mounted on the wall), so it’ll just be little homey touches to finish it off – and those kinds of things are best decided when you’ve actually been living in the space! Some of my favourite additions so far – PLANTS! They really lift the feeling of the room, and I’m loving having them around.

I want to give a MASSIVE shout out right now to my parents who helped us with the move – they didn’t need to take time off from work to help us shift all of our crap out of the flat and move it over, but they did. Or to give up their evenings to help us take things to to the tip, but they did. And a SPECIAL mention to my Dad who’s given up EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND SINCE to help us DIY 😳 It’s meant so much to both of us that you’ve been so helpful and supportive, and we really can’t thank you enough ❤️

As we slowly start to get there, we can begin to find a bit of normality in life again (though it’s been up in the air for so long, I may have forgotten what that feels like)! I’m really excited to get back to blogging (I’ve missed it and my blogger friends!), and I can actually get a bit of a social life back! With my job, my social life isn’t particularly thiving anyway, but for too many months now I’ve had to postpone plans with friends. I can’t tell you how many times the phrase ‘as soon as we’re a bit more settled in the house we’ll get something sorted!’ has been used! And I feel awful for having had to do it, I just didn’t realise how long it’d take to be ‘sorted’. I should’ve just sent out an email to my bezzies 3 months back saying ‘SEE YA AT XMAS!’, it’d have probably been more accurate 😂

I’m majorly excited to get back to my chums (because they have so much going on too, so catch ups are a MUST), and also to get back to wedding planning! It had to be put on hold during the move – thank God we got the big things booked 6 months ago, else we’d be in real bother now! With only half a year left, I really need to get cracking! 👰🏻

And I continue to love my job 💖 My ‘academy’ kids performed amazingly in their showcase this weekend – to see how far they’ve come in year just filled me with pride! And my ‘studio’ kids better get ready, because when we get back from half term, we go full whack into rehearsals for our annual show in March! I’ve got some routine ideas that I’m really excited to start, so bring it on! A couple of little extra opportunities have presented themselves over the last couple of months too, which is really amazing, and I feel incredibly grateful. Seeing kids learn, grow, become better people, develop their teamwork skills, have fun with friends and and enjoy themselves is just incredible – I’m very lucky to be able to do such a rewarding job 🙏

And that, my friends, is where I leave you for today. I have plenty of blog inspo that I’ve been jotting down in my Bullet Journal (the journal I meant to talk about at the beginning of September…it didn’t happen then because I didn’t have time, but I WILL be discussing it in my next post)! December is fast approaching too, which means…BLOGMAS! It’s getting cold, I’m loving my new cuddly coat, and I’m proper getting in the mood for winter and Christmas so I’ve started planning for that too! Who else is planning for Blogmas?

Hello my loves, welcome to 'life with Lynette'! I'm a frizzy, halloumi loving dance teacher/choreographer, living in North Yorkshire. I've recently given my little corner of the internet a fresh lick of paint, so enjoy my ramblings on work, lifestyle, adulting...and maybe a bit of wedding prep too! Grab a cuppa and get comfy...